POEMS.

ON QUEEN CAROLINE'S

REBUILDING THE LODGINGS OF THE BLACK PRINCE, AND HENRY V. AT QUEEN'S college, Oxford.

WHERE bold and graceful soars, secure of fame,
The pile, now worthy great Philippa's name,
Mark that old ruin, gothic and uncouth,
Where the Black Edward pass'd his beardless
youth;

And the Fifth Henry, for his first renown,
Outstripp'd each rival in a student's gown.

In that coarse age were princes fond to dwell With meagre monks, and haunt the silent cell : Sent from the monarch's to the Muse's court, Their meals were frugal, and their sleeps were short;

To couch at curfew time they thought no scorn,
And froze at matins every winter-morn;
They read, an early book, the starry frame,
And lisped each constellation by its name;

Art after art still dawning to their view,
And their mind opening as their stature grew.
Yet, whose ripe manhood spread our fame so
far,

Sages in peace, and demi-gods in war!

Who, stern in fight, made echoing Cressi ring, And, mild in conquest, serv'd his captive king! Who gain'd, at Agincourt, the victor's bays; Nor took himself, but gave good Heaven, the praise!

Thy nurslings, ancient dome! to virtue form'd ; To mercy listening, whilst in fields they storm'd Fierce to the fierce; and warm the opprest to

save;

Through life rever'd, and worshipp'd in the grave!
In tenfold pride the mouldering roofs shall shine,
The stately work of bounteous Caroline;
And blest Philippa, with unenvious eyes,
From Heaven behold her rival's fabric rise.
If still, bright saint, this spot deserves thy care,
Incline thee to the ambitious Muse's prayer:
O, could'st thou win young William's bloom to

grace

His mother's walls, and fill thy Edward's place,
How would that genius whose propitious wings
Have here twice hover'd o'er the sons of kings,
Descend triumphant to his ancient seat,
And take in charge a third Plantagenet!

TO THE SUPPOSED

AUTHOR OF THE SPECTATOR.

IN courts licentious, and a shameless stage,
How long the war shall wit with virtue wage?
Enchanted by this prostituted fair,

Our youth run headlong in the fatal snare;
In height of rapture clasp unheeded pains,
And suck pollution through their tingling veins?
Thy spotless thoughts unshock'd the priest may

hear;

And the pure vestal in her bosom wear.

To conscious blushes and diminished pride,
Thy glass betrays what treacherous love would
hide;

Nor harsh thy precepts, but infus'd by stealth,
Pleas'd while they cure, and cheat us into health
Thy works in Chloe's toilet gain a part,
And with his tailor share the fopling's heart:
Lash'd in thy satire, the penurious cit
Laughs at himself, and finds no harm in wit:
From felon gamesters the raw squire is free,
And Britain owes her rescued oaks to thee.
His miss the frolic viscount dreads to toast,
Or his third cure the shallow Templar boast;

And the rash fool, who scorn'd the beaten road, Dares quake at thunder, and confess his God.

The brainless stripling, who, expell'd the town, Damn'd the stiff college and pedantic gown, Aw'd by thy name, is dumb, and thrice a week Spells uncouth Latin, and pretends to Greek. A sauntering tribe! such, born to wide estates ; With yea and no in senates hold debates: At length despised each to his fields retires, First with the dogs, and king amidst the squires; From pert to stupid, sinks supinely down,

In youth a coxcomb, and in age a clown.

Such readers scorn'd, thou wing'st thy daring flight,

Above the stars, and tread'st the fields of light; Fame, Heaven and Hell, are thy exalted theme, And visions such as Jove himself might dream; Man sunk to slavery, though to glory born, Heaven's pride when upright, and deprav'd his

scorn.

Such hints alone could British Virgil lend, And thou alone deserve from such a friend; A debt so borrow'd is illustrious shame,

And fame, when shar'd with him, is double fame. So, flush'd with sweets by Beauty's queen be

stow'd,

With more than mortal charms Æneas glow'd: Such generous strifes Eugene and Marlborough

try,

And as in glory, so in friendship, vie.